Beggar the Dog is a well loved stuffed toy.
He’s been the subject of many a portrait, in addition to being an important part of my painting instructor’s young life. In painting class we each painted him in 4 poses. That’s five people painting four paintings each. Twenty portraits of Beggar in about 2-1/2 hours. We had approximately 30 minutes per pose. (Just so you know, normally oil paintings take longer than that.)
Sometimes doing an exercise where you have to jump in, prioritize and get going is a good thing. We left our inhibitions, anxieties, and need for perfection on the wayside. Each of us painted Beggar in our own style and captured a different dimension.
On a related note, I liked this print and saved the link so I could think about it later. I wonder if the misspelling of ‘lose’ was intentional.
‘Loosening fear’ sounds more interesting.
Loose sounds more possible! Having to do a painting in 30 minutes seems like a fabulous exercise. You get feedback so quickly! What did Schnap think of all those doggie pictures?
I haven’t shown Schnap the pictures. They live in the garage until the paint dries as it turns out she’s very curious about the smell of oil paint and will get wet paint on her nose from sniffing it. Hmmm.
Fascinating to compare one to another.
I agree! Seeing how each of us interprets and executes the still life is one of my favorite things about taking the class and painting as a group.